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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752960">Second Chances</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFerrett31/pseuds/FireFerrett31'>FireFerrett31</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Drama, Other, Redemption</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:27:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752960</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFerrett31/pseuds/FireFerrett31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after the Hundred Year War, Azula is locked away in prison by her brother who comes to visit her in what proves to be a life changing conversation. Decades later, Azula visits Kuvira in prison after her failed takeover of Republic City, to share with her what she learned on that destiny changing day.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azula &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Suyin Beifong/Kuvira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Second Chances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Part I</p>
<p>Azula didn’t have any tears left. In the months since her defeat at the hands of her brother and that wretchedly annoying waterbender who had cheated, she had spent whatever tears she had inside her and deposited them onto the cold, hard floor of her prison cell. For days, weeks even, all she did was scream and cry. Threaten any guard who was within earshot that as soon as she got out, they would be the first to die. But that had been an eternity ago, or at least, it felt like one.<br/>
At first, towards the beginning of her sentence, they had tried to chain her up between two pillars, with her hands stuck in massive metal gauntlets and chains attached to metal collars wrapped around her neck and ankles. It had taken her less than a week to break free, overpower the guards, and nearly escape the prison itself before Zuko had struck her with lightning squarely in her back. If he hadn’t been visiting their father that day, she would have been many miles away from here. Instead, she was lying face flat against the disgusting stone floor for...hours? Days? She couldn’t tell anymore. Nor did she care to.<br/>
After her last type of prison proved to not be suitable, she had been moved to her current cell, located on the top most floor of Prison Tower, being the only inmate on the entire floor. They had fitted her with a tight jacket that pinned her arms right to her sides, across her torso. She couldn’t remember what it was like to move them, to feel the warmth of her fire. Eating was an unbearably embarrassing ordeal, or at least it had been when she cared what she looked like.<br/>
There used to be guards posted outside the room that held her cage, and they proved to be the most effective way to pass the time, with her constant insults and threats finding new ways to poke holes in their mental defenses. She had gotten a few of them to snap on occasion, breaking formation and threatening her with violence. It always gave her a good laugh, but deep down it did nothing to warm her spirit. She realized early on that she didn’t even enjoy it, it was just something to do.<br/>
One day, the guards stopped coming. The only person she ever saw was the female guard who dropped off her food twice a day, and she never stopped for conversation or even eye contact. Azula figured they had moved any guards to the entrance of the floor of her cell, as it was literally the only way she could even begin to think about escape. That way, they were out of earshot for her insults, and her isolation was even more complete. It hadn’t bothered her at first, she had even told herself she preferred it that way, so her thoughts weren’t clouded and distracted by moronic oafs that sucked any intelligence out of a room by their mere presence, but...she had finally admitted to herself that lack of any kind of human contact had begun to weigh heavily upon her.<br/>
She couldn’t move her arms. She didn’t have anyone to talk to. She certainly would not even bother to think about Mai or Ty Lee, her traitorous former companions that were the reason she was here in the first place. If they had simply not betrayed her, she wouldn’t have had to cast them aside and rule on her own. It was their fault, not hers. She had given them everything they had asked and they had still chosen to leave her, just as everyone else had. Just like her mother, her uncle, her father, her brother. Traitors, all of them. They were right not to fear her, she had not been powerful enough to stop them from leaving her, so she deserved to be left. She was weak and cowardly, unworthy of even the respect of a group of traitors.<br/>
Still, she thought about the very brief instance where she had seen Ty Lee and Mai’s faces months ago, when she had first been brought to the prison on that horrible night. She was being carried by four guards, each holding one of her limbs, as she kicked and writhed against the gag in her mouth to prevent her from breathing fire. She was unable to stop the hot tears from flowing down her face, being flung in every direction as she thrashed her head every way she could. For a brief moment, as she paused to catch her breath, she happened to glance to her left, and what she saw had haunted her dreams every night since. Ty Lee and Mai stood at the edge of their neighboring cells, holding hands through the bars, watching her go past them. Ty Lee’s face was flushed and covered in tears as if she had been crying for years and the sight of Azula was simply too much to bear, and Mai’s face had been one of complete shock and sadness, an emotion she had never seen on her friends face. No, not her friend. A traitor. They never were her friends. She didn’t have friends. She didn’t deserve friends. And she certainly didn’t deserve someone who cared about her enough to hold her hand through prison bars.<br/>
So, Azula remained on the ground, face pressed against the freezing floor, listening to the wind ride in on the sunlight from her barely big enough window. She had wondered if being given a window was a small, last minute act of compassion from her brother, to give her some reminder of the outside world. There were certainly enough cells in this prison that he could have chosen a completely dark one with ease. No, she decided, it hadn’t been a mercy. It was yet another act of cruelty, to remind her of an outside world that she could no longer inhabit, a whole world that had betrayed her too.<br/>
An act of cruelty that she knew she deserved.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>	A door banged opened, waking Azula. She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep, not that it mattered enough to keep track anymore, but she found herself facing the wall away from where the noise came from. As she shifted her weight to turn over without her arms and face the approaching footsteps, her vision blurred. Two figures approached her cell door, and that door opened with a bang as well. The sound made Azula flinch, and she tasted the dried spit on her tongue and around her mouth. Two figures stood in the doorway, one a guard, one…”mom?” Azula thought with shock.<br/>
Before she could ask, she heard her brother’s voice say something to the guard and her perfect vision returned. She cursed herself for thinking it was her mother, for the confusing joy she had felt, and buried that embarrassment deep below the surface, knowing she would never touch on it again, even in private. The door to her cage opened, and the guard placed a chair in the center of it. He then lifted her into it, and she found herself face to face with her brother, in all his royal Fire Lord glory. She studied him for a tenth of a second as she was moved into the chair, and once she was sitting in it, she allowed her head to hang, her matted black hair covering her face.<br/>
She had told herself next time she saw her brother, she would be honest. She would be vulnerable. She would let him see her for what she was, and maybe he would have mercy on her and move up her execution date so she could finally be free. Despite her best intentions, however, she felt her mask slowly slip back on. The false confidence and swagger that had been her downfall finding its way back onto her, as she felt an involuntary grin creep across her face. “No,” she silently fought against herself, “no, no, no!” But it was too late. Princess Azula of the Fire Nation had returned, and she would not let some traitorous usurper to her throne see her in her despair and mock her. She would not allow him the satisfaction of breaking her.<br/>
“Well, well, well,” she sang in a mocking tune. The words felt jagged and harsh rupturing out of her throat. It had not been used for anything other than silent, dry sobs in far too long, the very act of speaking feeling like a long forgotten skill.<br/>
“Look who decided to pay dear old Azula a visit,” she crooned. She lifted her head slightly enough to look into her brother’s eyes, just enough that he could see her smiling face. “Hi, Zuzu.” She meant for the words to slither out of her like a snake ready to strike, but instead, what she found in her brothers’ face had shocked her enough that her focus broke for a fraction of a second. Where she had expected to find loathing and disgust she had found empathy and care. She dropped his gaze as quickly as she found it, unable to stomach the thought that he had been spending this whole time feeling anything other than loathing for her.<br/>
Her attempt at controlling this conversation was failing. She couldn’t allow that to happen. With a shuddering breath she steeled herself, and brought herself up to her full seated height, looking her brother squarely in the face. It was a softer gaze that hit her than she had been imagining for months. One that still held resentment but did not allow it to control him. He had grown, then. More than she had.<br/>
Zuko studied her for a few quiet seconds, and she wondered what he saw. Whether her mask would be enough to fool him despite all the evidence to the contrary. He wore elegant black robes lined with deep red around the hems and wrists. The Fire Lord headpiece sat atop his black hair that was a well kept, shining mirror of her own. Before she could break the silence, Zuko spoke first. “I see you’re looking better these days than you have in some time,” he said flatly.<br/>
A joke. The first human contact she had in months, and he had opened with a joke. She blinked at him. Once, twice, three times before remembering how to respond, how to spar. “Thank you for noticing,” she grinned and did her best to look relaxed as she shook the hair from her face. “It’s a combination of my new diet, plenty of sun, and regular exercise.” She saw the faintest flicker of a smile tug at his mouth before it vanished into thin air, and something within her loosened. She wasn’t sure why, but something about the sight of her brother feeling so relaxed allowed her to feel a bit more at ease than she had been previously. Maybe it was because for a very long time she had imagined him as her tormentor, relishing every moment she was locked away, knowing she would die up here alone and unwanted. And yet here he was, sitting in front of her with empathy in his eyes, joking with her.<br/>
She hated him for it. Instantly, she found her hardness again, shutting out the light that was beginning to shine through the cracks in her mask. She was getting sloppy. She could never let herself be vulnerable, never let herself be known. She needed to be feared. If she wasn’t feared, she was nothing. It was all that she had ever known.<br/>
“If you could get to the point,” Azula snapped, “I would be really appreciative. I have a lot to do today, and I’m sure being the new Fire Lord,” she spat those two words like venom, “has plenty on his plate too.” Zuko went very still at the sudden shift in her demeanor, then found a new posture, one leg crossed over the other, slightly more guarded yet still open. Maybe he hadn’t given up on her yet.<br/>
“I came to see how you were doing,” he replied coolly, “and to let you know that I’ve been thinking about how some events...unfolded a few months ago.” Azula let out a laugh. Cold, merciless, unfeeling. “Oh have you now?” Zuko stiffened as she pressed on. “You have found time in your day to think about ‘some events unfolded’ a few months ago? That makes me feel so warm and grateful, Zuko, thank you SO much for daining to have me grace your thoughts even just once in your life!” She was partly embarrassed for how easily she had been set off, but she didn’t care. She needed this. “I’ve been kept in this spirits forsaken tower for so long that some days I forget I had a life outside these walls, forget that other people exist, forget that I know how to use my own voice! And you decide on a whim ‘hmm I guess it’s time to acknowledge the existence of my sister today! Then I can go back to my own life and pretend like she doesn’t exist, which is exactly all I have ever wanted to do my entire life! I’m so happy she finally gave me an excuse to lock her up and keep her away from the world, just like she always deserved!’”<br/>
She had managed to hold Zuko’s gaze longer than she expected, and she finally let her head fall back down, almost collapsing. Her breathing was ragged and forced, although no tears appeared in her eyes, and she realized how vulnerable and open she had just let herself become. Her mask wasn’t just gone, it was shattered into a million invisible pieces, lying from here to Zuko, who still sat in that chair, staring at her. She felt his eyes on her without looking, unsure if she would ever be able to look at another human being again.<br/>
With her head hanging lower than it ever had, Azula managed to choke out a whisper just loud enough to make sure Zuko heard her very clearly. “Just kill me already.”<br/>
The words brought on a long silence between them, and she could feel him thinking. They had never been close, by her own design, but she knew him as well as he knew her. She could feel his thoughts churning, and wondered which of them would win the tumultuous battle to be his first retort to her.<br/>
What she heard, however, she could not have predicted in a hundred years.<br/>
“I am sorry, Azula.” Her breathing stopped. Had she heard him right? As if he could hear her confusion, he repeated himself. “I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for not coming sooner, and I’m especially sorry for these conditions you have been kept in. It was not my order that you should be kept away from other prisoners or completely isolated from the entire world.” He paused and she imagined him glaring up at the guard next to him. She seemed to be right, because the next moment she heard a door open and shut and she knew they were now alone. He continued, “Please believe me, if I had known how horrible this had been for you, I would have come much sooner.”<br/>
She cut him off before she had a chance to second guess her thoughts. “Would you have, though? Because you didn’t. You thought I was being treated better than I was and you still didn’t come. Not that I blame you, of course.” She lifted her head again to find him leaning forward, wanting to fully engage with him. “I wouldn’t have come to see you, were the situation reversed. And you know it.”<br/>
She had expected her words to hurt him somehow, but if they did, he did not show it. His scarred face maintained that same unreadable expression that only conveyed the most basic level of empathy and understanding. She despised it. “I would have locked you in a much worse cell in even worse conditions and found some way to torture you until you begged for death,” she spat, “and then I would’ve fullfilled your wish.”<br/>
“I am not you, Azula. I never have been.” How dare he. How dare he presume to be better than her. He had gotten lucky in their fight, had they continued without the peasant girl there, the outcome would have been very different. Before she could retort, he continued.<br/>
“That’s why I’m sorry. I never wanted to be you, and I never wanted to be dad. I think part of me thought I had to be for so long, and now that I’ve changed and that part of me is gone...I’m still trying to figure some stuff out. Specifically with you and dad and how I feel about the two of you.” He paused and took a deep breath before continuing.<br/>
“That’s the reason why I never came to see you. It’s not because I think I’m better than you or that I hate you. It’s because I actually care for you. Because you’re my sister. And that makes this even more difficult and complicated than if I did hate you and wanted you to rot in a cell until you craved death. I have never wanted that for you, even when we were at our worst.”<br/>
For the first time that she could remember, Azula was utterly speechless. Whatever she imagined her reunion with Zuko to be like, it certainly never involved this. Mostly she had imagined a rematch with the throne on the line, leaving him broken as she assumed her rightful place as ruler of the Fire Nation, throwing him and all his friends into cells just as bad as the one she currently occupied. But this...this person in front of her, apologizing for his actions, was not something she could have prepared for in a hundred lifetimes.<br/>
“You don’t have to forgive me for anything. And you don’t have to apologize to me for anything either. That’s not why I’m doing this.” Azula continued to be silent, doing her best to understand what was happening. “I’m doing this because it’s what I have to do to move on from what happened. And I know that is easy for me to say, considering how it ended for me,” he took the words right out of her mouth, maybe she was easier to read than she had thought. “But it’s the truth. I think about that night all the time, carrying it around with me. I’m sorry for how it happened. Truly and deeply sorry.”<br/>
He had won. All those nights ago, he had won. Yet here he was, apologizing to her for it. It didn’t make any sense. She literally could not comprehend what he was saying to her anymore. Almost completely dumbfounded, she managed to find a sneer deep within herself and said with as much malice as she could muster, “Uncle’s weak wisdoms seem to be taking lodge in your brain, dear brother.” Zuko simply smiled a sad smile and replied, “They could probably do you some good as well, if you let them.”<br/>
Nothing she said had any affect on him. He was so serenely at peace that every word of hers that was meant as a dagger simply bounced off of him, clattering loudly to the floor. She was utterly powerless yet again in this cell, no bending, charm, or words to save her or fight for her. She had never felt so exposed.<br/>
“Is that all you came here to do? Absolve yourself of your imagined sins?” She scoffed. “Fine, then. I forgive you. Happy? Now you can go on your way, knowing that the horrible crime you committed of being better than me is forgiven and forgotten. I hope it makes you happy.” She didn’t mean a word of it. She didn’t want this conversation to end for as long as she could drag it out. She couldn’t stomach the thought of returning to her isolation, knowing now that there would be no reunion with Zuko to look forward to. This was it. This was all she was going to have for the rest of her miserable, worthless life.<br/>
He didn’t move a muscle. Not even a twitch. Briefly, she thought that her words had finally found their mark. To her surprise yet again, Zuko had more unexpected things to say. “That’s not the only reason I have come,” he said quietly but not softly. “I’ve been talking with dad,” Azula scoffed again, but he continued. “I think I’ve found an area where mom might be.”<br/>
Her heart stopped. The world stopped spinning. Time itself paused. Could it be true? For years, she had purposefully never even begun to entertain the idea of thinking about her mother who had walked out on them, who had abandoned her when she needed her most, who had loved Zuko more than her.<br/>
And she wasn’t about to start now.<br/>
“It’s dad, Zuko. Ozai. Why do you think he would be telling you the truth? It’s probably just another game of his, you know how much he loves torturing you.” Her voice dripped with desperation. This could not be true, she could not be out there. It simply was not allowed in Azula’s mind. Not possible.<br/>
“I believe him, Azula. I have my reasons, and I believe him.” He looked at her calmly, yet there was a fire lit behind those eyes. A determination. “I believe that she is out there.”<br/>
“So?” Azula asked smugly. “What does that have to do with me? Or even you, for that matter. I for one don’t really care what she’s doing out there, she stopped meaning anything to me long ago.” Lies. They both knew it, but she didn’t care. She thought about the night where everything had changed. The night where she imagined seeing her mother, and what she had said to her.<br/>
“I love you, Azula. I do.”<br/>
No, that hadn’t been her. That was nothing. A phantom thought in the middle of a horrible, terrifying night. Her mind playing tricks on her, trying to distract her from her goal. Even her own soul was traitorous. Couldn’t even trust herself, and honestly, why would she want to? She couldn’t stand that fool.<br/>
“She’s waiting for us,” Zuko’s voice returned her to reality. “We have to go get her. Find her and bring her home.” For the first time, his voice shook slightly. He really believed this. Maybe there was something to it, afterall.<br/>
“We?” Azula interjected before he could continue, “what do you mean ‘we’?” “I mean,” Zuko pressed on, “that I am offering you a way out of here. I want you to go with me. I...need you to be with me when I find her.” “Why,” Azula snapped, “would you possibly want me there with you to be reunited with mother? I was nothing to her more than a monster, she would be saddened to find me there next to her perfect Fire Lord son.”<br/>
“That isn’t true and you know it,” Zuko spat. “You are as much her child as I am. We are a family. I’m trying to help us all remember that.” There it was again, that shake in his voice. He was truly dedicated to this, to doing it with her. He meant every word.<br/>
“Regardless of what you choose, you will be moved to a better cell with the rest of the prisoners where you will be treated humanely, and with dignity while you await your final trial. Going on this mission with me would be a way for you to continue serving your initial sentence without being confined to this prison anymore. I think it would be a safe assumption to say you have had enough of this place.”<br/>
“Understatement of the century,” Azula thought, but said nothing. Zuko continued, “I will be going regardless. I really hope you choose to come with me.” She had no words. No more witty responses. No more retorts. All she could muster was a question. “Can I think about it?”<br/>
The response seemed to lift a massive weight off Zuko’s shoulders. He breathed lightly and quickly responded, “Yes, of course. Please think about it, I’ll be leaving by the end of the week so you have six days to decide.” Deep down, Azula knew she had already made her decision, but she needed time to work through some things emotionally before setting off on this journey, and she didn’t want to risk leaving that very day that she agreed to it.<br/>
Silence filled the space between them as they both sat and pondered what it would mean if she accepted his proposition. Slowly, Zuko ventured into dangerous territory. “Again, I’m sorry for putting you in this prison. It should never have happened. But...I think we both know from experience that we have both been carrying around our own, specifically made prisons with us wherever we go for years now. Different, of course but…” he trailed off. He didn’t have to finish it, she knew exactly what he meant. And he was right.<br/>
“I told you,” she smirked, “uncle’s wisdom is rubbing off on you.” That same smile tugged at his lips as well, “I think it rubbing off on both of us would do us both a lot of good.” With that, he stood to leave. As he walked towards the door, Azula panicked, and asked the only question that came to her mind on such short notice.<br/>
“How did you know?” She blurted out as he froze in his tracks. “How did you know that I was here, and not with the other prisoners in a normal part of the prison?” It was a genuine question that she had to know the answer to, in addition to it being a way to keep him here a little longer. Slowly, he turned to face her, a knowing smile etched across his face.<br/>
“Mai and Ty Lee came to visit you, but saw that you weren’t with any of the prisoners in the main holding areas.” Her heart skipped a beat. Two. “When they asked the guards to see you, they were turned away hurriedly. They came directly to me, so I came here myself.” He paused, allowing the story to sink in.<br/>
“Despite your best intentions, Azula, there are still people who care about you. And there always will be.” Azula shrugged it off, because she knew if she allowed those words in then she would have an entire sobbing fit in front of her brother. “Stick to brooding, Zuzu. figuring people out isn’t your strong suit.” Zuko chuckled, a strange and foreign sound to her ears. “Fair enough.”<br/>
With that, Zuko opened the door and began to step through. He paused, and looked back. He looked so much like mom, Azula noticed. Then, as a final shock of the day, Zuko uttered the six words that she never expected to hear from a real, breathing person.<br/>
“I love you, Azula. I do.”<br/>
With that, her brother stepped through the door, and shut it behind him with a soft thud, his sister gaping at the spot where he had just been.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As soon as Azula had recovered from the bucket of invisible ice water that Zuko had inadvertently dropped on her head before leaving, she managed to stand and walk over to the window just in time to see him leave the prison and begin his trek back toward the palace. She watched him go until she could no longer see him<br/>
Peace. He had offered to her what she had tried for so long to deny him, peace. A chance to make right with her past and to shake off the prison she had locked herself in years ago. A chance to let go of who she used to be and forge her own destiny, free from expectation and free from her father.<br/>
She would still have to answer for what she had done, she had no doubt about that. But if Zuko believed in her seemingly without reason, then she would do everything within her power and out of it to convince everyone in the Fire Nation that she was not a lost cause. That she was worth saving. And she would start with her own mother.<br/>
Her mother. The woman she had hated so much that it drove her insane, whose love she felt she could never receive no matter how much she tried, the woman who she had driven away because of how much of a monster Azula had proven to be. Zuko was giving her the possibility of a second chance with ther. Maybe he was wrong about where she was, or maybe she wouldn’t receive them as well as they would want. But that’s not what mattered to Azula, what mattered was the possibility. The hope that she had not ever had in her life that maybe she could show her mother that she is more than just a monster.<br/>
Ty Lee and Mai had come. They had come for her. To see her. To check on her. They were thinking about her, despite everything. Despite the torture, the fear mongering, the manipulation, they still saw her as a friend. As their Azula, the only two people she had ever let into her soul, however shallowly it may have been, and they had not recoiled or abandoned her. Even though she deserved hatred and ire more than anyone else alive, they chose to come see her because they cared. There were people who cared about her, no matter what she did to them or herself.<br/>
And Zuko. The one person in any nation who had more cause and reason to hate her more than she already hated herself had come to see her. Had offered her a new beginning. He didn’t have to do anything, and yet he did anyway. Not once did she ever blame him when she believed this was all part of her planned punishment, she had simply accepted his judgement as fact. Yet, it wasn’t that at all. He cared. He loved her despite knowing her. Despite the last year of trying to ruin, capture, or kill him and his friends. He had still chosen her because she was his sister. Nothing could change that.<br/>
Azula stood at that window for hours, long after the sun had gone down. Her head swam in ideas of hope, possibility, and freedom. Places she had not let her mind wander since long before she was brought to this place.<br/>
Eventually, guards came to take her to her new cell, and when she tore her face away from the window, she realized she had been crying. She had found her tears again, but they weren’t hot or angry. They were emotional. Joyous. She knew she had a long road ahead of her, and it would be very painful and lonely at times, but it would be her road. Her choice.<br/>
When the guards entered her cage, she stiffened her back, and with all the dignity and pride she still stubbornly clung to, she said in a voice that finally sounded familiar to her and the guards around her, “Inform Fire Lord Zuko that I will be accepting his offer.”<br/>
Azula had been given a second chance. She would not waste it.</p>
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